“I had this tea to go in-shop (although the “to go” didn’t really work out very well, since I stuck around the shop until I finished it). I was very impatient and kept sipping it...”
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“Oh ! This is an extremely surprising flavoured tea.
First we have a very small cut leaf with dried red berries.
Theodor says it is a mix of non smoked black tea and smoked black tea . The smell...”
Read full tasting note

3 Tasting Notes

This was a sample kindly provided at The-o-dor´s shop and duh, should have bought it. Yep. Luggage would probably not have burst.

A warning, this is a smoked tea – a subtle one, a very subtle one, but smoked tea haters might want to avoid this. On the other it is perhaps the most subtle, more ready for for smoke-curious smoked tea I ever tried.

It is a light smoke tea with red berries. I was stupidly careless when brewing it (a sample! a precious sample, careless indeed) and I overbrew it, longer than 5 minutes for sure, let´s say on its way to 10 minutes for sure. It did not really matter, it was wonderful just the same with that particular mellowness which I associate with lapsang souchong (a confession, I love lapsang souchong not because of the smell, but because of that mellow taste).

Preparation

No it was great, did you think that because of the rating? I try to not overrate things, to reserve really high notes to things which are astounding , and maybe not rate as high flavoured teas.

I really hate it when some people on steepster rate everything decent 85-100 which is really misleading as well and is just narrowing the space phase of possible ratings. This was great. I am going to delete the rating, thinking about it seemed fair, but this is wishlist material and maybe my rating was confusing.

Oh, it was just difficult to know what to say – it was lovely and not ruined by my extra long steeping and am gonna buy it one day, but other than that, I ruined it for a fair trial (but it was lovely just the same) and could thing of nothing interesting to say!

I had this tea to go in-shop (although the “to go” didn’t really work out very well, since I stuck around the shop until I finished it). I was very impatient and kept sipping it despite it being too hot still. This left me with a burned tongue, and a little less insight into the actual taste than I’d like.

What I DID get, however, was smoke. Delicious smoke, dark, not burnt. You could smell the fruit, faintly, but I didn’t get much of it in the taste right away (see: burning my tongue). As it cooled there was a pale fruityness. At one point, something a touch tart, perhaps. Either way, it’s going on my shopping list because I’d like to try it again. Smoke and Fruit? Sounds like a genius combination to me.

I bonded with the guy serving the tea, as we both enjoyed smoky teas. “Kindred spirits”, I think he said. We joked about how under appreciated it can be.

He had a set steep time (and temperature, I assume), but I don’t know what they were. Brewed to perfection, though.

Oh ! This is an extremely surprising flavoured tea.
First we have a very small cut leaf with dried red berries.

Theodor says it is a mix of non smoked black tea and smoked black tea . The smell escaping from the bag is slightly and gently smoked and red fruits are immediately detectable .

I took my “old” Japanese teapot to prepare this tea. I love this teapot . It was a gift but I had chosen it myself 15 years ago in the shop Le Chat Huant, rue Galante in Paris. This shop sells Japanese objects and still exists even though I have not seen a teapot for a while in. I used it very little since it was sold without a filter … and I never found one that fits … until now !

The taste is divine and yet I am not the biggest fan of red fruit teas . The Smoked side is extremely discreet. I think a smoked tea beginner should start exploring these types with a tea as Madame .

The tea base is not hidden by the scent of red fruits : smoke taste associated with red fruit is very unexpected and absolutely irresistible.

Finally, another point but not least, lapsang souchong (probably used here with a second non- black tea smoked) in this blend offers a deep mellowness making Madame a velvet tea . Yes … Madame likes. Velvet … and plays the card of a masculine/feminine boudoir.